The sound of music comes to All Saints
A Wokingham church will be packed with music lovers from this Saturday for its annual Music Festival. GUY LEOPALD explains
ON SATURDAY, All Saints Church in Wokingham will be full of a different type of music to its normal Sunday services.
The Wiltshire Road church will welcome Wokingham Choral Society for its summer concert, the first act of this year’s Summer Music Festival.
They will sing a selection of popular classics including works by including Holst, Elgar, Rachmaninov and Lauridsen.
It’s one of five concerts over the next fortnight ranging across the spectrum of music genres from classical to contemporary, choral to folk and rock.
The festival will culminate in an energetic, spectacular evening of sound and light with acclaimed Pink Floyd tribute band What the Floyd?
The central concert of the festival will be a performance of Karl Jenkins' famous contemporary choral piece
The Armed Man: a mass for peace, conducted by the church's Director of Music, Richard Smith and featuring the children of All Saints Church Choir.
This year's festival theme is The Return of Admired Performers, bringing back favourite acts from previous concert series at the historic venue.
Rising stars of contemporary British folk music Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin return ahead of the much anticipated release of their new album Edgelarks.
A new feature is a concert showcasing senior music students from Luckley House, Ranelagh and St Crispin's schools. They will perform alongside The Gandolpho Players, the chamber orchestra led by Eleanor Harrison.
Rector at All Saints Parish Church, Canon David Hodgso,n said: “We’ve put together a programme this year which distils into one fortnight of music some of the most-appreciated performers of the last four years of concerts at the church.
“We'’e dedicated to offering our community the opportunity to enjoy the very best of local and internationally recognised musical talent across the range of tastes in this inspiring Wokingham venue.
“The festival is known for introducing new performers each year to Wokingham audiences. This year I'm delighted that new element is aspiring musicians from our local schools.”
The concert season has been sponsored by Careys New Homes and Renaissance.
Andy Wallace, Manager of Careys New Homes, said: “We were thrilled to be approached by the PCC of All Saints Church and offered the exciting opportunity to sponsor this longAN established and much-loved festival at the heart of Wokingham’s community.
“Careys New Homes always strives to ensure that their developments are sympathetic to the community in every sense of the word and we look forward to what we hope will be a longstanding relationship with Wokingham Concerts.”
For more information and tickets log on to from wokinghamconcerts. co.uk or visit the box office at The Cornerstone, Norreys Avenue RG40 1UE. They can also be reserved by calling 0118 979 2797 or, if available, on the door.